School Suspends Boy for Bloodshot Eyes

Published : Thursday, 09 Sep 2010, 9:32 PM CDT

    * Sophia Reza

     Sophia Reza
     FOX 4 News

Adapted for Web by Tracy DeLatte, myFOXdfw.com

TROPHY CLUB, Texas - Administrators at Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club suspended a 16-year-old boy on Tuesday because his eyes were bloodshot and they thought he might have been smoking marijuana.

The teen said he was not high. Instead his eyes were red because he had been grieving the loss of his murdered father.

Kyler Robertson’s father was stabbed to death on Sunday. His mother honored his wishes and let him go to school on Tuesday to be with his friends.

“I am sure he had a lot on his mind going to school. I had asked him not to go to school,” said Cristy Fritz.

Before returning to class Kyler had to go to the office to get a tardy slip. That’s when school employees accused him of being high because he had red and watery eyes.

Fritz said she got a call from administrators who told her Kyler would be suspended for three days.

“I was pleading with her to understand the severity of the situation, his emotional well being. How could they do this to him at this time? What are the alternatives?” she said.

District spokeswoman Lesley Weaver would not discuss the case with FOX 4, but said when administrators suspect a student is under the influence, a school nurse will observe symptoms like their behavior, odor and their eyes.

The district does not actually test students, though. That’s left to the parents.

Fritz said she was told by the assistant principal that she could have Kyler tested for drugs within two hours and if it was negative he could return to school. She did just that.

Kyler was allowed to return to class after he showed school administrators a copy of his negative test results.

The teen’s mom still wants an apology from administrators and she wants the district to remove the suspension from his permanent record. She is in the process of appealing it.

“We had other things to do this week than worry about a three day window for an appeal, a two hour window for a drug test and my son’s reputation and high school career,” she said.

Billboard spelling error creates embarrassment
By DIANE DANIELS
WSBT-TV Reporter

SOUTH BEND — If you ever wondered how much difference just one letter can make when it comes to a message, ask the thousands of people who drove by a digital billboard near the intersection of Ironwood and State Road 23 between Thursday and Monday morning.

The ad urged people to go to the "southbendon.com" website for a look at the "15 best things about our pubic schools." That's right, the billboard said "pubic" instead of "public" schools. The letter "L" had been left out of the word public.

Lee MacMillan of South Bend said his wife spotted the error on Saturday while sitting in traffic.

"She got home and said, ‘I can't believe it said what I think it said,’" MacMillan recalls.

"So we were out driving around yesterday and sure enough, it had that typo in it. So we took a picture and the rest is history, as they say," MacMillan adds.

MacMillan posted the picture he took on Facebook. He also emailed it to his neighbor, South Bend School Superintendent Jim Kapsa.

Responsibility for the spelling error has been claimed by the Blue Waters Group. The company does work for the city of South Bend's redevelopment commission to promote the city.

"I feel terrible. It's a mistake we made and we're guilty of it, and responsible for it. and we take full responsibility for the error," said Patrick Strickler, president of the Blue Waters Group.

"Four people looked at it, eyeballed it and didn't see the mistake, and those people all work for me,” Strickler explained. “We take responsibility for it. We simply blew it. We did not see the missing "L."

He says he became aware of the problem Monday morning.

"We jumped on it and immediately had it taken down by Burkhart. They took it out of rotation and began to repair it," Strickler said.

"We're the ones who made the mistake, not the city or the school," Strickler emphasized.

As of late afternoon on Monday, a representative from the Blue Waters Group indicated the content of the billboard had been fixed and the digital message was up and running again.

Couple Sues NYC for Displaying Son's Brain in a Jar Without Permission

17 year-old Staten Island resident Jesse Shipley died in a car crash in 2005. His parents didn't realize that his brain had been removed during autopsy for tests. They found out in the worst way imaginable.

According to the AP:

Andre and Korisha Shipley say they had no idea his brain was removed during an autopsy until some of the teen's classmates at Port Richmond High School spotted it floating in a jar on a field trip [to the city morgue].

After the incident, the city returned the brain and the family disinterred their son from a cemetery so they could bury him with the missing organ.

The city doctor said the brain was removed for tests, though he didn't explain why it needed to be displayed in a floating jar to high school students. Personally, we would be OK with our brain floating in juice creeping out high school students after we die. But you gotta ask permission, doctors!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39523336/ns/us_news-weird_news/

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